The Sunday News
Charles Dube
PEOPLE do things for a reason and there is no justification for an outsider just to jump to conclusions and condemn them for what they have done. In the same vein outsiders are allowed to express divergent views to those of the protagonist.
I am bringing this to the fore because various people have found themselves torn between registering their children for either June A and O-level examinations or October/ November examinations. The bone of contention is whether it is necessary to be so extravagant by engaging in double expenses.
Parents or guardians against double registering learners have questions such as the following: What happens if one’s child works extra hard and passes all the registered subjects in one sitting? Are the parents or guardians prepared to lose the examination fees paid for October or November? Will those learners continue learning or let alone come to school until October or November? Are such learners not going to be a nuisance and disturb others who need concentration till the end?
What if the June results are negative, will the learners pull themselves up from that stumble?
However, as indicated at the start of this discussion the protagonists have answers to these questions and will continue to do it if they were given the chance again and again. What I have observed is that after sitting the June examinations learners tend to relax regardless of the pending results. It takes a lot of effort from the teachers to try and motivate such learners. It does not matter whether the learner had not reached the required level for writing full examinations, there is always an air of optimism.
All the learners expect to pass and nobody can blame them for having that wish. Under normal circumstances the O and A-level syllabuses are covered in two years. The first year covers the basics and sometime in the middle of the second year syllabuses are completed. Faced with the pressure of writing examinations in June there is a lot of rushing. Teachers do not teach learners to know facts but speed up to cover what is expected of the examinations. Learners learn for the examinations.
There is a lot of rote learning because learners are determined to pass the examinations. This is quite dangerous and meaningless. Cramming and remaining without knowledge is unbeneficial. Nowadays learners need to be relevant to industry. They need to create jobs than learn to be job seekers. Having sat examinations in June some successful learners will be enrolled at universities which is a step in the right direction.
But they need to work extra hard to catch up with others if they are not going to struggle because they would have rushed through topics yet their colleagues would have gone through the whole course in the prescribed duration. Nobody denies that there are super intelligent learners able to cover certain classes in the shortest possible time. Reality tells us that such are just but a few. There is no doubt that some learners have these double registrations because their parents or guardians can afford it. These can write off the extra examination fees already paid if their children pass at one sitting.
Some by choice even if they can afford do not want their children to have more than one certificate. “Why have more than one certificate if you can pass first time in one sitting?” They ask. It is an undeniable fact that some learners because time was not enough for them to cover the whole syllabus, will get C grades in some subjects where they could have fared better. Faced with such realities they might be tempted to re-sit the same subjects in October or November.
There is no problem with that at face value. Disappointment comes when that C grade becomes a D, or an E or in worst cases a U. The initial effort has been worsted as the later grade is the one considered, the lower grade nullifies the better grade.
Parents, guardians and learners, take your pick. Choose what is best for you so that you have no one to blame if things do not go well. There is a tendency of rushing to blame somebody without facts and taking time to acknowledge where goodwill has been shown.
I would not like to emphasise on the negatives but at times circumstances force learners to lose direction when pressure becomes less. After writing the June examinations at times complacency creeps in to the learners. They feel they have worked hard and need a rest. Obviously after working hard human nature needs to rest and learners are not denied that right. But resting should not last forever because as candidates for coming examinations they should remain focused.
All things work together for good. Parents, guardians and learners should make an early decision as to when the learner will sit his or her examinations. Examinations are a critical part in the learning process and should not just be taken for granted.
Overnight decisions are disastrous. Ill-preparedness in the examinations is a recipe for failure. Whatever is decided upon should not be a disadvantage to the learner.
A wise decision should be taken when it comes to matters of when to write examinations. Is your child going to have three sittings as some write Cambridge examinations as well? Is your child going to register for both June and October/November examinations? Or you are going to stick to the conventional way where the child is going to sit the October/ November examinations once and for all. Take your pick. The choice is yours.
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